Colorado statutory cities operate under Title 31, Article 1, Section 203 and Article 4, Section 100 or Section 200 of the Colorado Revised Statutes. Statutory cities have an elected mayor and a city council composed of the mayor and two members elected from each ward. A statutory city may petition to reorganize as a Section 200 statutory city with an appointed city manager and a city council with two members elected from each ward and one member elected at large. The mayor may be the city council member elected at large or the city council may appoint a mayor.

Colorado statutory towns operate under Title 31, Article 1, Section 203 and Article 4, Part 3 of the Colorado Revised Statutes. Statutory towns have an elected mayor and a board of trustees composed of the mayor and four or six additional members elected at large.

Colorado law makes relatively few distinctions between a city and a town.[3][4] A Home Rule Municipality may declare itself either a city or a town. In general, cities are more populous than towns, although the towns of Castle Rock and Parker have more than 49,000 residents each, while the City of Black Hawk has fewer than 130 residents.